I'm surprised there hasn't been a post yet about Maria Bamford's excellent new show on Netflix, Lady Dynamite. It is terrifically weird and funny, somewhat reminiscent of Strangers with Candy though far more sincere. The opening sequence of the first episode alone is an exercise in loopy comedic brilliance.
Plus- Ana Gasteyer and Bridget Everett have featured roles.
"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."
I worried that the show wouldn't capture Maria Bamford's off-the-wall brilliance, but it does. It's not the cleanest series that's ever been made, but it's a fascinating ride, and you can't take your eyes off Bamford.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
I *love* it. My only complaint is I find it kinda exhausting and not easy to binge watch (I have that complaint about most Netflix shows) so I am only 6 episodes in unlike most of my friends who have finished it all.
Didn't realize I was living under a rock, but I must be. I never even heard of this show even though we do have Netflix. Huh. Well, thanks, Kad (and others in the thread). Will have to check this out.
I'm also finding it difficult to watch more than one episode in a sitting. It's just so absurd, it's exhausting. I love it and laugh my ass off, but I'm definitely taking it slower than, say, Kimmy Schmidt or (something I've seen many times but still binge watch) The Office. It's a lot to digest.
That being said, I'd never even heard of Maria Bamford before and I am very taken by her brand of comedy. As someone who struggles with depression and anxiety, I appreciate the sensitivity to mental illness the show has. But I also appreciate that it has a sense of humor about the particular eccentricities of the mentally ill. It's a difficult balance but it absolutely nails it.
As a long-time fan of Maria Bamford's stand-up, I am loving this show, and kind of geek out when I notice little bits and pieces of her act in the dialogue.
It's like a cross between The Comeback and Strangers With Candy.
I don't WANT to live in what they call "a certain way." In the first place I'd be no good at it and besides that I don't want to be identified with any one class of people. I want to live every whichway, among all kinds---and know them---and understand them---and love them---THAT's what I want! - Philip Barry (Holiday)
Watched part of the first episode. I started out liking the beginning, then it gradually started to get on my nerves. Disclaimer: it was getting pretty late, and I was getting sleepy when I watched, so there's that. Give me another day and another mood (and more wakefulness), and I might get into it more.